Intel late on Wednesday formally introduced its Crimson Canyon NUCs based on its 10nm Cannon Lake processors and equipped with AMD’s standalone Radeon 540 graphics chip. The new NUC8i3CY-series PCs are the first systems of their kind (SFF) to use Intel’s CPU made using its 10 nm process technology as well as a discrete GPU on a separate chip.

A retailer specializing on custom-built Intel’s NUC UCFF PCs disclosed virtually all specifications of Intel’s NUC8i3CYSM and NUC8i3CYSN earlier this month, so we already know most of the details regarding the systems. The new NUCs are powered by Intel’s dual-core Core i3-8121U processor that works in tandem with AMD’s Radeon 540 dGPU (codenamed Lexa, based on Polaris architecture, featuring 512 SPs) with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory. The NUCs are outfitted with soldered-down 4 GB or 8 GB of LPDDR4-2666 memory and come with a 1 TB SATA hard drive. Users that want faster storage can install an M.2-2280 SSD with a SATA or a PCIe interface.

When it comes to wireless connectivity, the NUC8i3CY-series UCFF PCs are equipped with Intel’s Wireless-AC 9560 CNVi 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5 solution that supports up to 1.73 Gbps throughput over 160 MHz channels. As for physical connectors, the NUCs have one GbE, two HDMI 2.0a outputs, four USB 3.0 Type-A ports (one supporting charging), an SD card reader, a TRRS audio connector for headsets, and a digital audio connector for 7.1-channel sound systems.

The key feature of Intel’s NUC8i3CY-series systems is the Cannon Lake processor made using a 10 nm fabrication technology. The Core i3-8121U chip is clocked at 2.2 GHz base to 3.2 GHz turbo, which is slightly below frequencies of the Core i3-8130U (2.2 – 3.4 GHz) made using Intel’s 14+ manufacturing process. The Cannon Lake CPUs support AVX-512 extensions that can speed up operations with large datasets that are not common on UCFF PCs, so whether or not this technology makes sense for typical owners of NUCs is up to debate. What is noteworthy is that Intel has enough 10-nm CPUs to install them in its own NUCs that tend to be rather popular miniature desktops.

Intel officially positions its NUC8i3CY-series systems as affordable solutions for gamers who play titles like League of Legends, TF2, as well as CS:GO and can therefore take advantage of AMD’s discrete Radeon 540 graphics chip. This dGPU is clearly faster than Intel’s UHD 630 iGPU in games, but Intel’s latest iGPUs have numerous advantages over AMD’s Polaris when it comes to media playback. For example, they featureVP9 10-bit decode, and support sophisticated copyright protection methods that require Intel’s SGX.

Intel said that its Crimson Canyon NUCs will be available in September, but did not announce their official prices. Previously it was reported that the NUC8i3CY-series systems will cost $530 – $575, but since this information is unofficial, it is always subject to change.

20 Comments

However, considering that it's integrated (non-upgradable) RAM and that the price includes a mandatory 1 TB hard drive I guess I'll pass on this one. In my opinion there's no point not offering SO-DIMMs in this form factor. (For ultrabooks I understand it, but would still prefer SO-DIMMs.)Does anyone know if there are any Ryzen-powered NUC-competitors out there?Reply